


'Twas a Night

by lumienarc



Series: Hauntober 2020 [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26933665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumienarc/pseuds/lumienarc
Summary: Entry for Hauntober 2020 prompt #5, 6, 7, 8, 9 because I didn't have time (soz): Moonlight, Fog, Haunted, Lantern, Stars
Series: Hauntober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948243
Kudos: 1





	'Twas a Night

_“When I think of you, my love, there is a certain tranquillity that envelops me—how strange it is, that you know fire lives in me and you lit it, too—and I know there is no other that can ever provide such feeling. It reminds me of the moonlight._

_“People had said I was born for the moon. Never truly shines, always overlooked, but when one notices, they will never forget again. Soft and silvery, ever changing and sometimes disappears from sight. The ocean relies on its appearance. The waves are never big enough if without it. As I walk at night, under the moon, I feel that I am in my element. When I see the ocean, I feel like I am where I belong. However, when I am deep in the forest, I feel the safest._

_“There has been time that I wish I am dancing at the glade, singing to the moon. I wonder if anyone else would be able to hear my voice when they see the same moon as what I see. Ah, the moon, my first love, was it true that maybe I was born from its light, the light that it received from the sun? I wonder… I wonder if it was wrong of me to fall in love with someone like you—someone that shone brightly and strong as the sun. You called me sunflower although I can’t come into light when it is daytime. Is it wrong to cling to a love that is doomed to fail because we are just… worlds apart?_

_“There are nights in which I am wide awake that I, alone, think of us and the reason we cannot hold hands and fate seems to be cruel, how I start to lose hope and faith in my love for you—but then, I remember your words, your constant declaration of love to me, your vow and pledge of loyalty to me. I remember us, and the happiness you bring me. How much you smile and laugh when we are together. Maybe this is not a cursed love. And maybe someday… there will be a way for us to be together at last._

_“My love, the love of my life, will you stay with me until the end of time?”_

The letter ended there. No sign, no name. He felt his tears drop silently. He didn’t realise it before, but he had been crying for quite some time. Sam, his adopted brother, was looking at him from the doorway with worries painted on his face. He quickly turned away, hiding his tear streaked face. It was not that his brother despised him crying, but he simply did not want Sam to be worried about him. He had been worried too much about him every day.

“Do you remember her?” Sam asked, his voice was uncharacteristically soft.

“No,” he heard himself answer. He didn’t remember who the writer was, but it pained him so.

“Hey, I can’t tell you who she is, but I’ll tell you one thing,” Sam said, whispering as he approached closer. He leaned down and whispered as quiet as possible, “They didn’t want you to go with her, so they had your memories wiped. We don’t know where she is now. It has been years since. Three years. She probably has married someone else. I’m sorry.” Then, Sam patted his back before leaving. Sam was a brash and loud man, so it was strange to see him like this. His words broke his heart. He didn’t understand why, but it shattered everything inside. He started crying harder and louder. Then, he found himself punching the wall and destroying furniture. He passed out on the floor, curled up, face wet with tears. However, when he woke up, he was on the bed and his bedroom was clean.

*****

He did not work with Sam at the farm and field. He worked at the town hall for the mayor. Sam said he used to be a physician, but he didn’t remember anymore any medical skill he used to have, so he became a clerk. Although he was a clerk, he didn’t work just as a clerk. It annoyed him that people just handed him various tasks simply because he could do them all. Today, they asked him to review the town hall renovation plan. It was ridiculous that the architect actually asked him for input. He ended up revising the whole plan because the architect did not make realistic plan and design. It took them a whole work day to make a new plan, but the architect still had work to prepare a new scheme and detailed project based on the revised plan. He might have to review it again tomorrow. He just sighed. When work day was over, his mind flew back again to the letter that arrived yesterday.

He walked out of the town hall into a foggy town. It had started to be filled by fog. He thought that the season had finally arrived, although he did not remember if autumn brought this much fog before. The streetlamps were lit, as it was now almost seven o’clock in the evening. The street was empty except for a few people that hurriedly tried to leave the open space. People feared the fog because there was no telling what might come out of the thick vision barrier or the next hidden corner that they did not remember was there. There was a lore that they believed when it was foggy: the blood-sucking demon would come.

“Hey, Nathan,” someone called from behind. He turned his head, finding Georgie hastily walk up to him. “Why are you walking so slowly? The fog is going to be thicker as night goes. You should quickly reach home before it is too late.”

“Why?” Nathan asked naively. Georgie looked pale.

“You didn’t remember because it hadn’t been this foggy since you lost your memories, but it happened before. Fog this thick was the sign of the monster’s arrival. It kidnapped people and killed them. Many disappeared and never returned. Ask Sam, he knows. Didn’t he warn you?” asked Georgie. He spoke so fast, but full with fear. Nathan did not understand and Sam did not say anything to him about the fog. Strange.

“I will, thank you, Georgie.”

“I’m gonna run if you won’t.”

“Okay.”

Georgie looked terrified hearing his nonchalant reply, but he did not seem to be eager to spend any more second talking with Nathan, so he just skipped and began to run as safely as possible. However, Nathan felt… safe. Oddly. He looked up and saw the moon. It was not full moon, but a waning moon. Usually, everything that scared people was always related to a full moon, but it was not. Nathan thought probably that was why he did not feel fear. He was not a brave person, he admitted bitterly. He had found himself yelling across Sam’s farm when he returned too late from the woods, but this was different.

As he walked in the fog, assuming he knew where he was going, his vision was increasingly obstructed. Georgie was right. It thickened as time went by. When it became clearer a bit, he realised he was standing outside the haunted mansion. It belonged to one of the richest families in the region, but a tragedy befell to their only son that entailed to the parents found lifeless in this very mansion, presumably out of grief or madness. Many believed the parents themselves killed their son and then they killed themselves to salvage their sin. Others believed they were all possessed by demon residing in the mansion. No one really knew what happened. Nathan knew Sam was friends with the cousin of the family. He was now the mayor. Nathan thought he had never been there before, but he felt déjà vu. At least he might have been standing there, outside the mansion, at a night like this before.

“Why are you out here?”

A voice startled him. He jumped and screamed in fear. A lantern was the first thing he saw, but then there stood a small figure in a cloak holding up the lantern. Then, he heard a chuckle. The voice was soft and feminine, but there was firmness that made him weak on the knees. It sounded familiar, but he was sure he never met this cloaked person before in his life. The person looked up. Her face now was visible, lit by the lantern. She was… beautiful. _Very, very beautiful_. Nathan felt warmness creep to his face.

“You should not be here. This place is dangerous,” she said again, firmly and professionally, but Nathan was very much distracted by her big, sharp eyes, small nose, pretty lips, and ample cheeks albeit she looked a little bit too pale. He hardly showed interest in women or men alike. He did not remember loving anyone or taking any interest in anyone. Many women had tried to approach him, but he did not want to know them at all. Many of them were pretty and attractive, but he did not care for them. However, his eyes, his heart, his body, and his mind—they all reacted to this stranger in a cloak. Compared to any other women he had seen, she wasn’t the prettiest, but she was the prettiest—if that even made sense. This wasn’t right. She raised her eyebrow because he did not react at all.

“You should leave immediately. The mansion is old, if you go in there, something might collapse. You might fall or something might fall on you. Cease the thoughts of entering the mansion whatever your friends dared you to.”

Ah. She meant that. He thought for once that she was about to say how the mansion was haunted by ghosts or demons, but she said something completely logical and far from supernatural topic. It was a surprise, a nice surprise. He hadn’t met anyone that gave him a proper scientifically proven warning about many strange things around the city and the region. Even the mayor was superstitious. Perhaps because recently he thought he had seen a real demon with his very eyes.

“N—no,” he stuttered. Why did he stutter? His heart beat so fast. “I—I wasn’t dared. I didn’t know how I ended up here. I… I might be lost.”

“Hm,” she hummed, still suspicious. “Well, understandably. The fog is too thick to see the path. I’ll take you home if you like. This fog can make people lose their sense of direction, but it does not affect me at all.”

“That’s… unnecessary,” he said out of pride. He didn’t think a woman should be walking him home, especially a big man as himself. She let out a soft snort. She smirked.

“Pride is hurt because you can’t be seen being walked home by a wee lass as I am?” she hit right on the spot. He blushed in shame. “Don’t worry,” she said. “No one will see. Here, you hold the lantern. I will make sure no one see me by your side.” She held up the lantern to him. It was hard to refuse because he logically understood that he didn’t know where to go back home at this point and he didn’t want to make Sam worried. He needed to be home soon.

“That… is really nice of you.”

He had the lantern in his right hand now. She smiled and it stopped his heart momentarily. What a beautiful smile. His heart hurt and he didn’t understand why. When she ducked her head and silently went to his left side, he felt huge disappointment over the fact he could not see her face anymore.

“Where do you live?”

“The Goldstein Farm. Do you know where it is?”

“It is hard not to know the loudest and loosest mouth in town, so it is nearly impossible not to know where he lives,” she said, jokingly. He laughed as they started walking. “What is your relation to that oaf?”

“Oaf,” he repeated between laughter. “He is my adopted brother. His mother adopted me, or so he claimed when I woke up without my memories three years ago. I have been living as his little brother since. Her mother passed away last year, so it is just the two of us now.”

“I see. You are Nathan, I assume?”

“You know my name?” He didn’t know why hearing his name from her mouth sounded wrong. It had never felt wrong before as long as he remembered.

“Again, your brother.”

He laughed again.

“Yeah, I suppose it’s not possible to keep secrets once he knows.”

“It is _impossible_. Every single time I think about that meathead, I cannot stop hoping he is out here so I could throw something at his smug face for all the brags he has ever said. Well, truthfully, I don’t hate him—sometimes I do, though—but his persistence is unbearable.”

She seemed to know Sam personally just from the way she talked about him, it was not even enough, but he felt it, the closeness between the two, and somehow it made Nathan jealous. Why would he feel jealous?

“You sound like you know him, but I never heard about you from him. What’s your name?”

“Yuki.”

“That’s an unusual name. What does it mean?”

“Snow.”

“Ah, okay,” he said. He thought it was fitting, but it wasn’t perfect. She looked pale, indeed, and she had that wintery vibe, but she wasn’t cold like snow. He didn’t like winter, the streets were slippery and it was bloody cold, but it was beautiful. She looked like someone that deserved other name…

“What are you thinking about?” Yuki asked. He didn’t realise that he had been quiet for a while. He was startled when he saw a lamppost that he missed by an inch. Yuki had pulled him to the side in time. She was stronger than she looked. She rolled her eyes, but she didn’t seem mad. “Watch where you are going, giant. I cannot possibly navigate your body for you, small as I am.” She reprimanded him in the most endearing way that Nathan ever heard. He blushed. She called him a giant—that was…

“…cute.”

Her head snapped so quickly toward him. He blushed and covered his mouth in embarrassment. He might be seeing things, but he thought when she looked away, she had some pink colour on her pale cheeks. Then, she changed the topic, got him to talk about the town hall renovation plan that needed a lot to work on. She gave pretty nice insight along with enthusiastic agreements with changes that Nathan chose to make. It felt like talking to another man, but it was not. It felt more comfortable. It should be a cold night, but he had been feeling so warm. Her smile was the best.

“There is your house,” she suddenly said, cutting short his sentence about the recent addition in the town library. She was an avid reader, but he never saw her in the library before, so he hoped she would visit someday. He used the new books as bait. Yuki stopped quite far from the house. It seemed like she didn’t want to come any closer.

“Ah, I didn’t realise we are here already,” Nathan said. He didn’t want Yuki to leave yet.

“I shall be taking my leave, then. Good night, Nathan,” she spoke softly. She stared at him squarely in the eyes as she bid him farewell. There was a hint of sadness that he saw in her eyes—but he saw more in there was the reflection of the stars. How beautiful her eyes were with stars in them. Then, she smiled. It hurt his chest. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

“Wait—Yuki!”

She stopped.

“Yes?”

Nathan could not say it. He wanted her to stay longer, to come into the house and have dinner with them, but he could not say it. He did not want to be a creep.

“Your lantern.” He wanted to scream at his stupid, stupid mouth.

“You can keep it. I don’t need it,” replied she. “Good night, Nathan. I wish you sweet dreams.”

“Good nights… Yuki…” His voice trailed as he watched her walk away from him into the fog. He didn’t move until she was completely engulfed by the fog, invisible for his eyes. He missed her already. He reluctantly headed for home. He saw the stars above. It was strange. It felt like the stars might know something or maybe—his eyes shifted to the moon—maybe the moon knew.

Sam was yelling at him for twenty minutes, asking explanation why he came home so late. Even as they had their dinner, Sam wouldn’t stop nagging about him being late. He implied how worried he was and that he thought something might have happened to him. Nathan’s head, however, was in the clouds.

“I met someone, Sam,” he said, interrupting Sam.

“Huh, who?”

“A woman called Yuki.”

Sam choked.

“WHO?!” he screamed.

“Yuki. The name sounded off, it didn’t match her, but she helped me find my way back home. She knew you, too. I don’t think she is your friend, though…”

“You…” Sam was speechless and Nathan did not quite understand why. Sam sighed. “I can’t believe it. I thought…” he looked uncharacteristically shaken. Nathan never saw him like this. Sam put away his plate. “Don’t forget to clean up before you go to bed.” And that was the last time Nathan saw Sam that night. He just went straight to his bedroom and never went out again until morning. Nathan did not understand at all, but instead of sleeping, he kept thinking about Yuki.

“She… looks like a flower. Rose, maybe. She talked like a queen. Hm. Maybe she is more like a goddess. Like the one that disguises herself to be among mortals… what is the name of that goddess… that one… the Vanir. Ah. Freyja. She looks like her. A smaller version. So adorable. Yeah, Freyja fits her better than Yuki. Rose is also better. Yuki still fits her, but Freyja sounds perfect…”

And that was what Nathan thought before he fell asleep into a slumber where nightmares always waited for his return.


End file.
